The move was made after righty Esmil Rogers went down with a broken finger. By releasing him, the club opened another spot for a foreign player. The Korea Baseball Organization allows its member teams to carry three apiece.

Hacker, 35, saw action in parts of three MLB seasons before plying his trade on the other side of the Pacific. He hasn’t looked back since, turning in a strong, five-year run with the NC Dinos.

In 586 2/3 innings over more than a hundred starts, Hacker has worked to a 3.52 ERA in the notoriously hitter-friendly KBO. Last year, he tossed 160 1/3 innings of 3.42 ERA ball, but he had not been pitching competitively thus far in 2018.

As for Rogers, he enjoyed a more significant major-league career in advance of his own move to Korea. But he never found consistent success in seven seasons in the bigs, posting a lifetime 5.59 earned run average.

Rogers previously worked in the KBO in 2016 but returned to North America least year. He threw well in seven late-season Triple-A starts in the Nationals organization, paving the way for a contract with Nexen. Through 13 starts this year, Roges had thrown 83 frames of 3.80 ERA ball with 65 strikeouts and 16 walks.

If you’re interested in catching up on any of the other familiar names currently playing in Korea, take a look at this handy page from MyKBOstats.com.

So does Henry Sosa who has been surprisingly good this year in the KBO. Hacker is a solid pitcher too, he’d certainly be better than some of the guys the White Sox and Reds are sending out to start. Sosa, reminds me of an older, healthier version of Michael Pineda,